Kaspersky Game Security

The gaming community is an ecosystem made up of multiple entities. An environment of fair play and account protection that permeates the entire gaming experience is what players appreciate most. Fair play environment for the hottest industry out there

The online gaming industry is booming. This ever-growing ecosystem consists of numerous entities, including gamers, streamers, tournament platform hosts, developers and, of course, cheats who try to obtain an unfair advantage and illegal profits.

Some facts and statistics Big new market Mobile gaming leads the industry in terms of global revenues with If you think that gaming is on the rise, you’re late to the party – it’s already on a 51% share, while PC and console gaming account for 24% and 25% top of the world. According to multiple sources, it’s the most profitable respectively. and popular form of entertainment. For instance, the famous open-world game Grand Theft Auto V is the most profitable entertainment product In the past year, almost 7% of digital ever, generating over $6 billion in revenue. Six years after the initial release services users were subject to of its online service, Rockstar Games still welcomes thousands of players various kinds of identity fraud, while account takeover losses tripled and every day. totaled more than $5 billion globally. Being king of the hill is great for gaming, but its success also attracts cheats and fraudsters. There are now more than 2 billion gamers worldwide and almost 50% of them make in-game transactions. The fact that fraud According to a study by Irdeto, in the gaming industry has skyrocketed in recent years demonstrates that 37% of gamers admit to cheating.* cybercriminals want their share of the expanding online gaming field.

Users are obsessed with their digital personalities and the growth of their characters, are emotionally attached to their digital alter egos, and are willing to spend lots of money on them. This phenomenon of modern-age gaming has spawned numerous marketplaces where luxurious accounts, 37% skins, virtual currencies and other in-game features are in high demand.

63% In-game currency is of value to fraudsters

Identity theft and account takeover are affecting the industry. In one case involving web injects, the developer of a major multiplayer game reported 35 cases of fraud in a very short space of time, quickly losing thousands of dollars. Tempted by an offer of in-game currency, players “As it stands now, followed web links and entered their digital account information, which there are more than was then harvested and used by fraudsters to take over the players’ accounts. 2 billion gamers worldwide and almost Cases of account takeover, for instance, have flooded industry platforms, 50% of them make in- with groups of hackers stealing and then putting up for sale thousands of real user accounts. With streaming services, the popularity of some game transactions.” users can be enormous and the consequences of their accounts being stolen can be devastating for game developers. As well as suffering severe reputational damage, they are likely to lose lots of fans if their more popular users end up shunning the platform.

* forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/ 2018/ 04/30/reportcheating-is-becoming-a-big- problem-inonline-gaming/#ab59b7476637 In 2018 at the Why cheating is a financial issue Extremesland Zowie Asia Like in any ecosystem there are good elements and parasites. For cheats, CS:GO tournament who clearly belong in the latter category, the world of online gaming a professional Counter- offers an ocean of opportunities, with a variety of tools used to gain an Strike: Global Offensive unfair advantage over honest players. player was caught Abilities such as seeing through walls, auto-aiming and increased accuracy cheating: the sneaky are great for cheaters, but detrimental for other players. A ruined gaming gamer used an aimbot experience results in players leaving for other platforms, where cheating is not so prevalent. But frankly, there is nowhere to go. According to studies, program that helped him almost 40% of players confessed to using various cheating techniques. eliminate his opponents. The event had a The issue is undoubtedly financial – cheating causes players to leave games, join competitors and badmouth developers. All these factors $100,000 prize pool, affect the revenues of game developers. but thankfully the player was spotted and his On a side note, being the ecosystem that it is, the gaming sector spreads across multiple mediums, such as social media platforms, forums and team suspended.* streaming services; any issues within a game immediately go public.

* polygon.com/2018/10/21/18006358/ counter-strike-esports- cheatingshanghai- video Fair play is extremely relevant for e-sports

Tournaments hosted by e-sports platforms attract players from all over the world. In the competitive field of gaming, every player is confident they can beat anyone. Imagine how a player feels when their tournament ticket and a chance to win is spoiled by a cheating rival.

The psychological and social aspects of cheating are bad for the gaming community too. People who don’t play fair make it so much worse for those who do. Even though the world of online gaming is a virtual one, the consequences of cheating are extremely real. People who attend e-sports events take them very seriously, and so should the platform providers.

Cross-platform cloud-based cybersecurity

Because players access their favorite online games via multiple channels, be it a PC client, mobile app or a web page, it’s important to protect all of these platforms.

Cloud-based solutions help combat the bad guys in the fields of e-sports and online gaming.

In the case of cheating, metadata and OS characteristics are key to identifying players who are using cheating software. For fraud detection, in particular in browser and mobile channels, entity linking and mapping, as well as global device reputation are essential for uncovering signs of an account takeover and fake accounts created to abuse bonus schemes and benefits.

PC. Browser and Mobile

Protection of Fair-play in-game items & currencies

Seamless yet No collusive secure gaming playing experience

Entire session monitoring

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